RDR designs "compact village" for sheep farm in Patagonia

Swiss architecture firm RDR chose corrugated metal to cover a sprawling agricultural complex in Patagonia where cows and sheep are reared.

Richter Dahl Rocha & Associés (RDR) designed the Estancia Morro Chico ranch in Argentina's Santa Cruz province near the border of Chile.

The project is located in the wind-swept region of Patagonia, which is shared by both countries and has mostly cold and cloudly climate year-round.

It is common to raise livestock here but a rewilding effort has been promoted to restore and rejuvenate Patagonia's grasslands.

Photograph by Celine Frers

The Lausanne studio built a series of buildings and renovated existing structures the 27,000-hectare ranch, which is home to 11,000 Merino sheep and 1,500 Hereford and Aberdeen Angus cattle.

The goal was to allow for the large-scale production of wool, as well as beef and mutton.

Photograph by Javier Agustin Rojas

The new volumes are low-slung, rectangular designs with walls and roofs covered in corrugated iron to form a uniform aesthetic. They include a depot for storing machinery, a guest house and staff accommodation.

RDR chose to arrange the buildings in a cluster, like a village, to help create a well-sheltered environment suited to the climate. A shed for shearing sheep is located further away near the pastures.

Photograph by Javier Agustin Rojas

The buildings are constructed with prefabricated wood and metal, which RDR chose to reference how pioneers to the region in the 19th century built. The use of the materials is also a contemporary reinterpretation of barns and warehouses.

Photograph by Javier Agustin Rojas

"The layout of the complex is based on the model of a compact village, characteristic of the ranches of the region, where the utilitarian buildings and accommodation blocks are grouped together for protection against the rigours of the climate and to create places that are comfortable in the Patagonian desert," RDR said.

"The general aesthetics of the project were inspired by the traditional architecture of the region, which demonstrated extreme austerity and an almost primitive simplicity, introduced into the immensity of the Patagonian desert," it added.

Rounding out the project is a house for the family who owns the ranch, which comprises two L-shaped volumes and a courtyard. A triangular design juts from the roofline into the sky and is clad in wood. Inside, the ceilings and walls are lined in the same wood as the exteriors and feature ample natural light and grey stone floors.

"The architectural language of each part of the whole developed well-defined variations on the theme of sheds," the studio said. "There are simple forms like that of the sheep-shearing shed, and other, more complex forms like that of the family house."

Photograph by Javier Agustin Rojas

Estancia Morro Chico is complete with solar panels, wind turbines and a wood-burning boiler that is partly fuelled by bottled gas and replaces the former use of charcoal.

The ranch was founded by a Scottish immigrant in the late 1800s who arrived from Chile's southern city Punta Arenas via the Falkland Islands, which today is a self-governing British Overseas Territory.

Photograph by Javier Agustin Rojas

"He played a major role in the famous 'gran arreo', during which 5,000 sheep were brought more than 2,000 kilometres across the wet pampa to settle the vast swathes of land that the government had granted to the colonists," RDR said.

"A century later, descendants of the same Scottish family are linked to an ambitious project aiming to complete and renovate the site."

Photograph by Celine Frers

Other projects in Patagonia are Tierra Chiloe hotel, Museo Regional de Aysen and Felipe Assadi's Awasi Hotel, all of which are part of Chile.

Photography is by Cristobal Palma.

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Get a Meteorite-Speckled Slab of the Moon’s Surface Made with NASA Data

All images © DeskSpace

Most of us will never get to touch the moon’s outer crust, but a new project by DeskSpace lets people pretend they’ve got a little portion of the crater-covered satellite sitting on their desks or hung up on their walls. Designed using data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Lunar Surface is a square piece of portland concrete that’s natural bubbles form ridges and dips that mimic the divets caused by meteorites.

The astronomical project commemorates humans’ first steps on the moon. “It was 50 years ago that the first Apollo landing took place. With such an important anniversary, we understand that space enthusiasts need special items for their collections,” DeskSpace said. There are just a few options left for purchase on Kickstarter, but you can stay up to date with future space-themed releases on DeskSpace’s site.

 

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Little Sky ice cream shop in Melbourne aims to capture the "theatre of gelato"

Customers can get a glimpse of gelato being made inside this ice cream shop in Melbourne, which local studio Ewert Leaf has completed in shades of blue and pink.

Located within a late 19th-century building in the coastal suburb of Brighton, the 140-square-metre Little Sky gelateria has been designed by Ewert Leaf to display the art of ice-cream making and encourage social interaction.

A solid oak bench seat extends the length of the interior, topped with salmon-coloured seat cushions and baby-pink terrazzo side tables that have cherry-red bases.

The communal bench encourages customers to sit alongside each together and strike up conversations.

The adjacent service counter connects to the kitchen, which is wrapped by a joinery wall. Directly in front is a row of stools where customers can watch staff preparing gelato through a service hatch.

"
To encourage customer engagement, the theatre of gelato is captured via a large open window that punctuates the kitchen joinery wall," explained the studio.

"Showcasing production was an integral part of the design brief, inspired by the clients' studies in northern Italy and [Italians'] desire to share the gelato tradition.
"

The studio has additionally restored the building's rough concrete floors and brick surfaces, contrasting them against glossy fixtures such as the swooping service counter which is clad in deep-blue tiles.

All of the gelateria's joinery and furniture was made especially for the project by a network of local manufacturers.

The locally-made ethos even extends to smaller elements, such as the pink-and-white ceramic bowls which are used to serve gelato in-house and the timber waffle-cone stands, which were hand-crafted from off-cuts of the timber bench.

The studio said that it considered the environmental impact of each element in the space, from the furnishings through to the packaging.

For instance, the take-away gelato cups are made from recycled paper and a majority of the crystal glassware was salvaged from a local charity shop.

"Attention to detail was achieved through the engagement of local artisans,"
 added the studio, "and implementing sustainable initiatives was key in ensuring that the business is run in the most environmentally responsible way possible."

Other stand-out ice cream shops include Milk Train in London, which features cut-out clouds and pastel-blue walls, and Mister in Vancouver, which is set inside an old warehouse and uses liquid nitrogen to make its selection of frozen treats.

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John Pardey Architects raises house on stilts over River Thames flood plain

Steel stilts elevate Narula House, a British dwelling on banks of a River Thames tributary that has been designed by John Pardey Architects to endure flooding.

The wood-clad Narula House is intended to evoke an abstract object beside the river Loddon near Wargrave, which is identified as a flood zone.

John Pardey Architects (JPA) completed the house for a client who wanted a striking property that overlooked the river and offered plenty of space to entertain guests.

It is raised on stilts to keep the house and its services well above predicted flood levels, while allowing the clients to "enjoy life as if on a cruise liner" during times of flooding.

"The client had been dreaming for some time of building their own 'wow' house, a comfortable modern home to enjoy as a couple and a great place for entertaining large gatherings of family and friends both inside and outside," JPA's Chris Gray told Dezeen.

"The new house and all servicing has been raised well above predicted flood levels which allows the client to embrace flooding as part of the life on the river," Gray continued.

"During the days floating above the flood water, they enjoy life as if on a cruise liner!"

Narula House is the third dwelling completed by JPA along the banks of the Loddon, and so it was familiar with the challenges and demands that came with building in the flood zone.

According to the studio, the potential flood depth for the site is recorded as 1.17 metres so the dwelling is positioned 2.2 metres above ground to accommodate the potential threat of increased water levels caused by climate change.

Photo is by Max Narula.

"It is very much a response to this particular site and client brief, however many aspects of the design would be familiar to anyone looking to build in a flood zone," said Gray.

"The basic approach is for the house to sit lightly on the ground, keep the house and services well above predicted flood levels and allow the free-flow of floodwater across the site."

Narula House has a slender steel framed structure that is raised on piled foundations. Its site has been landscaped to allow the free flow of floodwater across it.

It is distinguished by a single, linear form that aligns with the north and south cardinal points – contrasting with the meandering river over which it looks.

"The logical placement of the house might have been to align it with the river's edge, so it would face south-east however we chose to align it so as to play off the diagonal path of the river with accommodation facing south," said JPA.

"The rectilinear house aligned with the cardinal axes counterpoints the meandering river beautifully, reinforcing both."

Narula House's materiality was intended to evoke an abstract object hovering above the meadow, and features sweet chestnut cladding with a translucent preservative coating that offers a light, white finish.

This is teamed with fibre cement panel infills around its glazed areas, and an earthy grey brick chimney structure that extends up from a ground level barbecue area.

The dwelling is accessed by an open tread staircase, which leads onto an entrance deck with a sheltered front door made from natural iroko wood.

This opens into a generous lobby area and central courtyard, which features a second staircase down to the grassy riverbank.

On the westside of the courtyard is a large open-plan living space, which has unbroken views of the river.

It is enveloped by a balcony sheltered by an overhanging roof, which JPA designed to offer solar shading.

The same roof overhangs the east side of the house, which contains the residence's private living spaces.

Branching off a linear hallway that runs the length of the house, these private living spaces include a study, utility room, cloakroom, and three ensuite bedrooms.

Throughout the home, the interiors feature deliberately simple, light finishes to help create the feeling of openness.

They are lined with timber flooring and decorated with the client's own furnishings – including many 20th century design classics – in a bid to create a "wonderful autobiographical feel".

Narula House is complete with an annexe for guests accessed from the home's main entrance via a glass-lined corridor.

The annexe takes the form of a freestanding pavilion and has a lift for access.

JPA is a London architecture studio founded in 2000 by John Pardey.

In December 2019, Narula House's site flooded after a period of extreme rainfall that raised the water table significantly. This was captured in a photo by the client.

Other recent projects on Dezeen that are designed to endure flooding includes Bates Masi's Kiht'han house on Long Island, which is lifted above the ground and features lower-level screens to let water pass underneath.

Photography is by James Morris and drone footage is by Electric Blue.

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This week, designers created objects and structures to help fight coronavirus

This week on Dezeen, Carlo Ratti designed an intensive care unit for Covid-19 patients from shipping containers and Dyson prepared to provide 15,000 ventilators for the NHS.

Italian architects Carlo Ratti and Italo Rota designed a series of interconnected intensive care unit (ICU) pods from shipping containers, which could be added to hospitals to increase their capacity.

A prototype of the pods, named Connected Units for Respiratory Ailments (CURA), is being built at a hospital in Milan, Italy.

Dyson designs ventilator in 10 days to supply NHS

Industrial design brand Dyson also announced this week that it has developed a ventilator, which it plans to produce 15,000 units of in the following weeks.

It took just 10 days for Dyson to design the CoVent ventilator, after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson contacted the company to help meet the demand caused by the pandemic.

Stykka designs cardboard #StayTheF***Home Desk for people working from home during self-isolation

Danish startup Stykka shared a design for a simple flat-pack workstation, called the #StayTheFuckHome Desk, which those in need can easily assemble from three pieces of folded cardboard.

Architectural designers Ivo Tedbury and Freddie Hong have also developed a 3D-printed device that can be attached to door handles to enable hands-free opening, to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Life after coronavirus: how will the pandemic affect our homes?

Ukranian architect Sergey Makhno wrote about how our homes will change once the coronavirus pandemic is over, after extended periods of self-isolation have affected our habits.

His forecasted changes include people preferring houses over apartments, wanting to become self-sufficient with their own water supply and heating, and more attention placed on creating a workplace at home.

Dezeen's editor Tom Ravenscroft predicted that the huge amount of people being forced to work-from-home will have long-term impacts on how companies approach remote working.

Jure Tovrljan redesigns iconic logos to reflect a world under coronavirus

Graphic designer Jure Tovrljan rethought iconic logos including Starbucks, Nike and Mastercard to show how the pandemic is affecting current life.

While cartoonist Toby Morris and microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles created playful animated illustrations of non-contact greetings as well as graphs depicting how the exponential spread of the virus can be slowed.

OMA wraps glass public walkway around Galleria department store in Gwanggyo

Elsewhere, in architecture news, OMA completed the Galleria department store in Gwanggyo, South Korea, which is clad in tessellated triangles of stone.

Wrapped around the cube-shaped building is a multifaceted-glass passage that appears to be "eating its way through the stone".

SHED creates Alley Cat dwelling for Seattle backyard

Spanish architect Maria Milans del Bosch designed a two-storey home for herself called Camp O in Claryville, which is a two-hour drive north of New York City, nestled into a hillside to minimise the impact on the surrounding forest.

Meanwhile, Seattle architecture firm SHED designed an aluminium-clad home for a couple who wanted to live in a more compact dwelling at the end of their garden, in order to rent out their main residence.

Nuwa is a micro guesthouse in Seoul with just one room

Other projects popular with Dezeen readers this week were a micro guesthouse in Seoul with just one room, an apartment in Kyiv that has cobalt-blue curtains in place of walls, and a Barbican flat in London that can transform into a ballet studio thanks to shapeshifting furniture.

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